new feature request

new feature request

[Laura Conrad]

While we're discussing potential new features for the next version:

What about figuring out a way so that changing the primary server
doesn't destroy information about groups that come from a secondary
server?  Or better yet, get rid of the idea of a primary server
altogether.  Just have a bunch of equal servers that store information 
about their articles independantly.

If I've stated this at the wrong level of abstraction, here's a
different level: Right now, the näive user (for this purpose,
including me) who changes newsservers not only loses all the
information contained in the marks in the nntp groups, which you would 
expect, and which is documented in the manual, he or she also
loses this information in the nnml groups.  This is annoying.

Yes I know that if you're careful about what you name the .newsrc*
files you can probably change your nntp newsserver and still keep all
the marks on your nnml groups, but I can't say I've ever managed to do
it.  Even if I did manage it with the help of all the high-powered
gnus experts on this list, that still wouldn't prove that the
gnus-user-on-the-street could do it.

I have gotten much faster than I used to be at restoring the correct
marks on my mail groups when I do clobber them...

-- 
Laura (mailto:lconrad@world.std.com , http://www.world.std.com/~lconrad/ )
(617) 661-8097	fax: (801) 365-6574 
233 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02139

Re: new feature request

[Brian May]

>>>>> "Laura" == Laura Conrad <lconrad@gamesville.com> writes:

    Laura> Yes I know that if you're careful about what you name the
    Laura> .newsrc* files you can probably change your nntp newsserver
    Laura> and still keep all the marks on your nnml groups, but I
    Laura> can't say I've ever managed to do it.  Even if I did manage
    Laura> it with the help of all the high-powered gnus experts on
    Laura> this list, that still wouldn't prove that the
    Laura> gnus-user-on-the-street could do it.

There is, I think, an automatic way of translating the .newsrc* files
to a new server. It is documented in the Info documentation.  I have
never used myself.

I don't think there is any automatic way of keeping cached
articles.... IIRC, the info documentation says that these must be
deleted in order to prevent confusion.

The only way to keep track of a message independently of the server,
is to use its message id, rather then its message number. Perhaps a
new backend could be designed, that saves messages by id, rather then
number. However, I doubt it would be this easy, as I suspect most of
Gnus refers to messages by number. Or perhaps it might be possible to
have some virtual numbering scheme independent of the server. I don't
know. These are just some issues you might want to think about.

-- 
Brian May <bmay@csse.monash.edu.au>

Re: new feature request

[Alex Schroeder]

Brian May <bmay@csse.monash.edu.au> writes:

> >>>>> "Laura" == Laura Conrad <lconrad@gamesville.com> writes:
> 
>     Laura> Yes I know that if you're careful about what you name the
>     Laura> .newsrc* files you can probably change your nntp newsserver
>     Laura> and still keep all the marks on your nnml groups, but I
>     Laura> can't say I've ever managed to do it.  Even if I did manage
>     Laura> it with the help of all the high-powered gnus experts on
>     Laura> this list, that still wouldn't prove that the
>     Laura> gnus-user-on-the-street could do it.
> 
> There is, I think, an automatic way of translating the .newsrc* files
> to a new server. It is documented in the Info documentation.  I have
> never used myself.

I have used it in Gnus 5.5 and it crashed...  :(

Alex.
-- 
http://www.geocities.com/kensanata/
http://www.bsiag.com/

Re: new feature request

[Brian May]

>>>>> "Laura" == Laura Conrad <lconrad@gamesville.com> writes:

    Laura> While we're discussing potential new features for the next
    Laura> version: What about figuring out a way so that changing the
    Laura> primary server doesn't destroy information about groups
    Laura> that come from a secondary server?  Or better yet, get rid
    Laura> of the idea of a primary server altogether.  Just have a
    Laura> bunch of equal servers that store information about their
    Laura> articles independantly.

At first, I didn't think much of this idea. I didn't think it was
worth the effort. However, I think there is one very good application
of having Gnus independent of the news server - laptops...

Consider this - you go to walk, plug in your laptop computer,
and tell it to read from the news server there.

You then take the computer home, plug it into your home network and/or
ISP, and tell it to use your news server here.

Now, it would be good if this could be supported, so that Gnus
can still keep track of read messages, etc, even though you are
constantly changing news servers.

Or another example: perhaps your main news server is off line, so you
need to use another, slower one, until the problem is fixed.

Even better would be if you could use such a feature if Gnus
Unplugged...

Implementation might be difficult though...

-- 
Brian May <bmay@csse.monash.edu.au>

Re: new feature request

[Kai Großjohann]

I think that's a good idea.  I think Gnus should move from the
monolithic .newsrc.eld to a number of files.  Maybe a ~/.newsrc-gnus/
directory would be nice with a number of files in it, named after the
backend?  Superfluous files could be ignored, and Bob would be your
uncle.

Sounds like doable work (though saving info in the right file might be
difficult), if rather tedious.

kai
-- 
A preposition is not a good thing to end a sentence with.

Re: new feature request

[Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen]

Kai.Grossjohann@CS.Uni-Dortmund.DE (Kai Großjohann) writes:

> I think that's a good idea.  I think Gnus should move from the
> monolithic .newsrc.eld to a number of files.  Maybe a ~/.newsrc-gnus/
> directory would be nice with a number of files in it, named after the
> backend?  Superfluous files could be ignored, and Bob would be your
> uncle.

Yes, I think this sounds like a good idea.  

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   larsi@gnus.org * Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen